Page 219 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat

Topography and archaeology, 1878-1879
545
two, of its room walls nro scored with lnrgo Cuphio loiters probably taken from
on old building ns tho plaster had been laid over them. These I did not copy.
G4, At last, after haying visited 20 mosques at least, which produced notliinc
butn cup of coffee, a kallian, and innumerable complaints of the tyranny of the
Sheikhs and their tribe, I was
told of a stone that nobody
could read. This therefore I
went to see and found it em-
bedded in tho “ holy of holies”
in tho Madrnsseh-i-Daood, iu
tho Bilad-i-Kadim. In tho
margin is a lifo size transcript
of thc’inscription. Tho stone “
itself is of black basalt (?)
shaped like the prow of a boat,
or an animal’s tongue, and has
the dimensions noted in the
margin. I had no difficulty iu
getting it, in spito of its holy
situation, telling the Moollahs
simply that it was a fire-wor­
shipper’s stone, probably an
idol, and so lmd no business
where it was. To back my
argument I gave a few rupees
to repair the mosque and the
loss was made up to them.
A
Sheikh Ahmed sent a slave
who dug it out and carried it
homo for mo. I thought at
first that it might bo tho prow
or figure-head of some old ship,
•m 2 fret nml 2 inches long. aud I suppose this is possible.
At any rate, however, we know
that the Phoenicians above all worshipped tho Phallus, and that tho goddess
• In which cnpncilj alio nppenrs on coins of Sidon, Astartc, their particular favorito and tho
t
(lnu, nnd Arndus- standing on tho prow of n boot. protcCtl*CSS* of mariUCl'S, WAS Worshipped
(Hawiinsou.) by them under the form of a conical
atono. Whether under this form she was cvc?f lot into the prows of their ships
I cannot say; as a figuro-bcad I boliovc that her imago was soused.. This,
however, is a mere speculation, tho writing will probably tell its owu tal^
55. Hero again is a puzzle to any but an adept. Some of the characters are
t Sinco I wrote this, I hsvo found inn foot-note of Mr. Rnw- evidently ordinary cuneiform,
. .
Iinsou s to his edition of Herodotus published in 1802, Vol. Ill, wliethcrtof Babylonian, Assyrian,
! "There nro iu point of fnct ntlcnst six different tvpc* of eunci- 0r Achicmonian, UlO type SCCniS
form writing, viz., tho old Scythhr Hnbyioninu, tho Susinnlnn, much tllC saillC, blit 801110 01 the
Z unttt! characters interspersed arc hicro-
Udn oxtrnt connected, hut tho Assvrinn nnd Acliroiucninu rcrsinii glyplllC, as Well AS UtC treO 01*
d.ITor tolnlly from thou, nnd from end, other." palm bough itself ])robably, that
stands .on tho left of tho inscription, a fact that might point to the stone having
been engraved at a time when emblematic writing was being converted into
alphabetical. .This again is a mcro surmiso. At any rato it is not of the real
Phoenician typo that Cadmust taught tho Greeks,
l Winy.
. t and from which their alphabet emanated, as tho
Phoenicians were supposed to liavo known this writiug 1500 years B.C.
GG. Mr. Ituwliuson would, I think, make Cadmus merely a mythical per­
sonage, under the form of Kedem,§ tho East seeking
§ He giv« tho Hebrew upolllng.
Ercb the West, or Europo, hut still ho admits tho
cumulative forco of the argumoutsIT that ho ouumer-
. * Noto u<x>lt II, Chnptor 40.
ates, as very great towards tho proof of a Phoenician
settlement in Bocotia.
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